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Pressure for bank money laundering inquiry

Miles Costello, David Robertson

August 8 2012, 1:01am, The Times

Standard Chartered has been accused of breaking US sanctions against IranIranian President’s Office/AP

The Government was under pressure to open a parliamentary inquiry into money laundering last night as Standard Chartered, the British bank, faced allegations that it had spent years carrying out illicit money deals for Iran.

John Mann, the firebrand MP with a reputation for tough questioning of bank bosses, said that he would call for the inquiry tomorrow, prompted by allegations against Standard Chartered made on Monday by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

The bank has been accused of violating US sanctions against Iran, with one director allegedly proclaiming: “You f***ing Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we’re not going to deal with Iranians?”

Mr Mann criticised the perceived anti-British bias of the US authorities,…